How to Explain What is Anxiety Caused By to your Kid (This Eliminates 50%)

When you understand the biology of anxiety, 1 out of 2 people will immediately be cured (yes it’s that powerful).

In a recent interview with Jodi Aman, she reviews with us what anxiety is caused by and how we can help our kids as parents understand this.

In this post, we’ll walk you through a simple way to explain this to your child

When they understand this alone, it will help with fears like getting up in front of the class to speak, walking into a new class or whatever your child’s individual anxiety may be.

Anxiety, as she teaches in our masterclass will trick you with lies it wants you to believe. When you know those lies and have the tools to combat them, the other 50% can take anxiety head on.

First let’s go over what is anxiety caused by so you can explain it to your child.

What is Anxiety Caused By

So what is anxiety caused by, depression? No!

It’s caused by a small part of the brain called by amygdala, the part responsible for detecting fear and triggering adrenaline.

What can happen is that you’re triggered by a sound, a smell, a noise, or something else. It can even go off if you’re confused, or if something seems weird. We were designed this way, biologically, so that we could detect danger.

And while we’re a long way from the stone age, these biological protective measures are still in place.

When we’re triggered by something, the amygdala sends a message to the prefrontal cortex and the brain can then determine that nothing is wrong.

And while it seems like it would be a simple thing for our brains to say, “no problem here, turn off the adrenaline,” it isn’t as easy as that.

The message the brain sends back to the amygdala (that everything is okay) isn’t as strong. This means it’s up to YOU to do the heavy lifting and calm yourself down.

Oftentimes what happens is that the prefrontal cortex says, “I don’t see danger, but I feel danger, so keep that adrenaline flowing, because something might be wrong.”

We need to understand that the only way that the amygdala will continue to pump out adrenaline is if we continue to be afraid.

The whole purpose of adrenaline is fight or flight (to take action or do something). So if you’re not afraid and you take some kind of action right then, your anxiety will go right away.

So how do you put this knowledge into good use and regain control of your anxiety?

Choose Not to Be Afraid

I realize this may be a little easier said than done.

However, if when you’re triggered you look around and recognize that there’s no danger, you can simply tell yourself, “there’s nothing to be afraid of here, thanks amygdala for looking out for me, but there’s no danger.”

Okay that may be a little cheesy, but you get the idea.

Recognizing that this is just a biological response to something and not REAL danger is a huge step in getting your anxiety under control.

Take Action

The whole point of your body sending out all of that adrenaline is so put you into fight or flight mode. Your body wants you to do something. So do it! Take action! This will go a long way towards helping you remain calm and regain your power. It matters less what you do as long as you do something.

Final Thoughts on What Anxiety is Caused By

Jodi shared during this interview that when she teaches people the biology behind anxiety and how our anxiety needs us to be afraid, that half of her patients never need another session with her.

This knowledge is that powerful.

So to recap, you can gain control over your anxiety when you:

Understand the biology behind how anxiety works (and recognize that we ALL are built this way)

Choose not to be afraid when anxiety hits and you see that there’s no danger

Take action to regain your power and calm

And let us know how it works for you or your kids! We would love to hear from you.